Dagestani athlete denies information about desecration of Buddha statue

The Dagestani Ministry for Sports and Youth Affairs has planned to hold a series of educational meetings with local residents in connection with the incident of desecration of a Buddha statue in Elista. Monks in Elista held the ritual for cleansing the Buddha statue of desecration and prayed for the detained Dagestani native. However, a source from the Dagestani athlete's team has denied the information about the desecration of the Buddha statue.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that at night of April 2, a Dagestani athlete, a member of the Dagestani team for Greco-Roman wrestling, was detained on suspicion of desecrating a statue of Buddha in Elista. A criminal case was instituted against the Dagestani athlete for violating the people's right to freedom of conscience and religion. On April 4, the court in Kalmykia arrested the Dagestani athlete for two months. Magomed Magomedov, Dagestani Minister for Sports, was reprimanded.

Dagestani leader Ramazan Abdulatipov made an apology to the Kalmyk people for the incident.

The conflict between Kalmyk and Dagestani natives arose from unflattering words addressed by the Dagestani athlete to the Buddha statue, reports a source from the Dagestani team of wrestlers. The source has denied the information about the desecration of the Buddhist temple, but noted that he had not been at the place.

Full text of the article is available on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’.